Cardinals get incredible draft lottery luck as they jump into top 5 of 2025 MLB Draft

The St. Louis Cardinals are picking in the top five of the 2025 MLB Draft!

Just one year after the Cardinals fell in the 2024 MLB Draft order during the new lottery system, the Cardinals jumped to the fifth overall pick after entering the night set to draft 13th overall. This is a huge development for an organization in desperate need of adding talent to their farm system, and having a top 5 pick in 2025 will surely help them build toward the future.

Last year, despite the misfortune of falling in the draft order, the Cardinals were lucky enough to have a talent like JJ Wetherholt fall to them at the seventh overall pick, someone who many projected to be the first player selected. Now the Cardinals can look forward to adding another top-flight talent to their farm system next summer, hopefully accelerating this retool even further.

While it is far too early to project who the Cardinals will select at number five, names like Ethan Holliday, Jamie Arnold, Jace LaViolette, Tyler Bremner, and others highlight the top of the draft board and present a variety of options for the Cardinals to consider with their selection.

This is the first time in franchise history that the Cardinals will select in the top 10 of the MLB Draft in consecutive years, a huge testament to their success over the years.

The Cardinals were a competitve club in 2024, and although the last month and a half of their season went poorly and left them out of the playoffs, it is fun that they get to reap the reward of what normally would have went to a team with a bottom five record. Last year the Cardinals were hurt by the lottery a bit, but this year, they are huge winners of the format.

The Seattle Mariners were another notable winner of the draft lottery, as they'll select third-overall after being in a similar position as the Cardinals.

With the Cardinals expected to trade away key veterans from their roster in the coming weeks, they could see their farm system strengthened this offseason, and by the time the 2025 MLB Draft is here, be looking like an ascending farm system in today's game.